Cavill Reflects On “Man of Steel” Ending

Years on, much debate still flies around regarding Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” and that film’s ending and the sheer scale of destruction caused by the fight between Henry Cavill’s Superman and Michael Shannon’s General Zod.

Speaking with EW, Cavill himself was asked if his character is suffering from a kind of survivor’s guilt, since he saved the world, but destroyed a city?

“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a survivor’s guilt. I mean, that’s a different kind of thing because he’s above the threat. I think the most difficult thing for him at this stage of the story is that he has just come to terms with the fact that he is really, really quite powerful and he hasn’t found any major vulnerabilities yet, and despite this, despite the enormous power that he has, he still cannot do everything, and he really struggles with that. It’s not just a quick, ‘Okay, I get it. I can’t save everyone.’ That takes a long time to work out.”

Cavill goes on to say that, though he’s not certain, he’d always heard that Snyder intended to touch on that battle’s impact in a “Man of Steel” follow-up.

“I think that may have been part of the master plan all along. When it comes to the major story stuff I can’t really speak on that, because that was above my paygrade. What I can speak of is the idea of Superman, especially when the finger is pointed at collateral damage in the first movie. I mean, we’re talking about a greenhorn.”

So does he think Superman would do things differently going forward?

“Let’s say now, [if] Superman has the same threat again, that’s a different story. He would, of course, bring collateral damage to an absolute minimum, but in that, he’s just trying to survive because if he doesn’t, the planet’s gone. That’s the excuse I make for Superman. He’s fresh and he’s new, and it’s very easy to point out the faults in someone after they’ve done it, but put yourself in their shoes and see what happens.”